Coming back to bead-weaving and my {song}beads

One of my favourite bead-woven pieces - I still have this one somewhere or other.

My journey in playing with beads and creating jewellery is almost as long as I am old. My Grandma Anderson, master-embrioderer, had me hooked on beads before I went to school. I still have her little collection of beads - old cigar tins, pill bottles, other miscellaneous jars which were presumably convenient and cheap (free!) for her at the time, but of course are now imbued with layers of nostalgia and charm. Flat backs in hard plastics and glass, sequins, seed beads which I now know to be either Czech or German in origin due to their shape and colour, and a small selection of real coral. Not a material I'd work with now, not in the form of 'new' beads, but my Grandma's treasured coral beads are one of those hand-me-down heirlooms that are too precious to be, well, precious about. I had a child's bible which my Grandma made a cover from old curtain material with, and which I then stitched some of the relatively-large-for-embroidering-with coral barrels (around 6mm) onto and was ridiculously proud of. I probably still have that somewhere too! 

Of course, it wasn't long before I was threading beads onto cord and short pieces of wire to make some, erm, *interesting* jewellery, shall we say. Sadly, there is no photographic evidence of any of this but I seem to remember that some of my favourite earrings to wear circa. 1994 as a 13-year-old were some funny metal swirls which I'd embellished with some wooden black and white beads, and one of my favourite shops to hang about in the '90s was Edinburgh institution, Helios Fountain. If you've visited Edinburgh, you'll almost certainly have visited the Grassmarket - Helios Fountain is still there*, although I must admit to not having darkened its doors for several years now. I'm not even sure if its infamous table of beads is still there. Kind of like a healthy pick n' mix - healthy for your waist that is, not so much for your purse! A young teenager's pocket money doesn't go so far when they have a greedy bead appetite (let's be honest - what's changed?). 

*Update - in googling Helios Fountain to add a link, I've discovered that it shut down last Spring! I'm gutted - the end of an era, for me at least. Many, many fond memories of shopping in that wonderful place.*

Put your sunglasses on! A beaded ring of mine, based on a Laura McCabe bezel.

It wasn't long before I discovered bead-weaving - I still remember a tiny new bead shop opening in Stockbridge where I grew up; Beadnik (the punniness of which was totally lost on me), which specialised in bead-weaving materials. I discovered that not all seed beads are created equally and that Japanese glass seed beads are the way to go, not to mix my brands for weaving projects and that I   (still) just *loved* creating things with a needle a thread. I bought a small book entitled 'Why not make a beaded amulet purse' (why not indeed?), a heap of Japanese seed beads (including Miyuki Delicas - precision-cut cylinder beads which many bead-weavers swear by) and off I went. Adventures in cross-stitch followed (as far as one can have an adventure with cross-stitch - I'm not sure any of my efforts ever quite counted as that!) but it was the beads that I always came back to. Alas, Beadnik only lasted a few years, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who remembers what a very special shop it was. 

I can totally recommend this little book for anyone wanting to have a go at bead-weaving. It is incredibly thorough and really gave me a good grounding in the stitches described within.

A Highland Wedding - designed and made by myself for a dear friend's wedding back in 2008.

When I moved onto working with wire and all the techniques associated there, about ten years after I'd discovered bead-weaving, I abandoned the needle and thread. I must admit to being thrilled at being able to use ALL the beads in the bead shop, but also, pleased that I could create finished pieces of jewellery SO much more quickly than I ever had been able with seed beads. I also relished the ability to work on my own designs and not rigidly follow a pattern. I had a few bead-woven designs of my own which I was pretty proud of, but not having an engineer's brain, I had always struggled and preferred to work to a pattern. The more and more beads and jewellery became part of my career, the more time was a precious commodity - it was hard to justify teaching a single 2.5 hour class for which I would earn £50, when I had spent a whole week+ designing and making a piece plus a different colour way or two, and then 2 days trying to write up instructions. NOT the best way to pay the bills! 

I made each of my eight(!) bridesmaids a bead woven bangle, mostly featuring a cluster of my signature bead-woven flowers.

And so seed beads really stopped being part of my repertoire, despite my (of course) hefty stash of them. I made the odd venture into seed beads - a couple of classes with Laura McCabe, a kit or two from The Bead Merchant, an entry into The British Bead Awards - but essentially, it was all about The Bigger Beads for around 7 or 8 years. 

My award-winning entry into the 2011 British Bead Awards.

And then a couple of years ago when in Belfast, I felt an unexpected urge to return to them in a more permanent fashion. One thing I'd always yearned after creating without any particularly great success was the beaded bead. I'd bought a book on the subject, poured over bead-woven high art in many different tomes, trying unsuccessfully to work out exactly how different artists, any artist, created these beautiful objects. I tried and tried but alas, my non-engineering brain really didn't want to play ball. Until that night in Belfast when I was home alone aside from 3 tiny bunnies, and decided for some reason to try my hand again. I don't know what had re-sparked my interest, but I do remember that night - I was up stitching til 3am, trying to sort out a pattern with which I was happy. Here are those first beads:

You know, they may come easily to my fingers now, but I sweated blood and tears - the former only figuratively, I admit! - over these little ones. I know now that for best results I need a) to use the same brand, even in a mix and b) it's incredibly important to have perfectly round core wooden beads, neither of which I stuck to in these first {song}beads. But you know, I remember feeling that I'd really managed something special with these. There was an AWFUL lot of trial and error over many hours that night, and these beads felt like a supreme achievement for me. 

As an aside, look what Pinterest suggest as similar to this image:

Love it! 

Since then, I have barely put down my needle and thread for a day. I've experimented with different brands and sizes of seed beads, worked my way through many different core wooden beads before settling on the brand which works best for me, played with colour and pattern within the individual {song}beads and recently branched out into surrounding different shaped wooden core beads in my favourite tiny 1mm glass seed beads - these rondelles are my newest love:

Right from the start, I called my little creations {song}beads. I sometimes worry it seems a little unnecessary - after all, although my patterns are all my own in that I have come up with them myself after many hours of hard work, I'm not claiming to have reinvented the wheel here - bead-weaving is a bit like knitting: if you understand the stitch, there are logical ways to create and build with a stitch, and with something as simple as covering a round bead, there are a limit to the ways in which it can be achieved. I'm sure there are many other handwoven, or 'beaded beads' made, all over the world, in very similar or even exactly the same ways. But every bead which I stitch seems such a part of me. They feel like a culmination of what I've described in this post - a way of marrying together my pre-professional jeweller bead-weaving activities, and my 'larger bead' activities. They feel like a true expression of me; somewhere where I am happy to have arrived at within my work,  and that's why the title {song}beads seems entirely fitting and right. 

From trash to treasure: Big Sky {Tapestry}

Ok, so you've probably clicked on this post and are now thinking 'where's the trash?!' At least, I kind of hope that's what you were thinking. Not that kind of trash. 

A while back, I was lucky enough to score a MEGA destash bundle from one of my favourite jewellery designers, Eve Smith of Silver Meadows. Eve used to work with (and had an eye for) some really special lampwork glass beads, but since moving on to working with silver (and if you take a look, you'll see she's really found a beautiful and unique voice!) doesn't work with them to the same extent. 

However, this all worked very much to my advantage when I purchased her destash at the end of 2014. Seriously good stuff - fellow art bead-enthusiasts, you would be sick to the back teeth at the goodies I  scored! SERIOUSLY GOOD STUFF. 

Because of one thing and another (essentially, 2015 being a bit of a bugger of a year for us), it's taken me a while to dip my toe into the wonder that is my destash wonder-haul. But recently, I've managed just that. Perhaps even a couple of toes, or even a whole foot. 

One of my favourite things about this type of purchase is that (although Eve furnished me with a full round of pictures), you somehow don't really know what you're getting. Eve had beads from so many lampwork artists - some of which were familiar to me, and some of which were unknowns. Some of these artists don't even make beads anymore, which makes this finds extra special, somehow. 

That was the case with the bead artist here - on double-checking with Eve, Beverley Hicklin. These beads were ones that particularly leapt out at me when I took a good look through my stash again a few weeks ago. They have amazing depth and layers of colour, almost like a slice of rock or agate.

I knew I wanted to do something that just show-cased their astonishing beauty, but that they needed something special as their surroundings....and so I immediately thought '{song}beads'. It took me a while to find the right colours to complement the lampwork, but I remembered I had a tube of slightly odd-coloured beads - beads which had been described as 'Coated White Opaque Lila Gold Lustre'. Sounds gorgeous, right? All shimmery, with maybe a hint of purple, Lila being the German for purple? 

Nope. Kind of oatmeal with a light Picasso. Not what I was hoping for at the time, so they just got tossed into my bag of tubes and boxes of seed beads. But when my mind started whirring with what to do with Beverley's beads, I remembered and thought that perhaps that oatmeal would be just the ticket - and what do you know, it was. A touch of blueberry Picasso in the mix to bring out those blue layers in the lampwork, and this bracelet almost stitched itself. (It didn't though. These handwoven glass bad boys take around half an hour each - ouch!). 

I'm pleased with the finished result - and although I've entitled it Big Sky, which seems apt given the landscape quality which the lampwork beads have, in my head I've also called it 'Tapestry'. Something about the layers within the lampwork glass being paired with the woven nature of my own beads. 

You can find Big Sky {Tapestry} in my shop here. 

{Song}beads

What have my handwoven {song}beads been getting up to? Here are some of my designs where they have been popping up recently (and a few not so recently!):

Some have sold, some are *mine* and some are available over in my etsy shop. 

End-of-day Beads

I have long been fascinated by the idea of end-of-day beads. 

"End of day" glass was any item made by the glassworkers in their own time at the end of the day using up the remaining molten glass in the pots. It therefore tended to be a mixture of all sorts of colours."

Glass Encyclopaedia

I love the idea of these serendipitous items - of inviting chance to take an active role in one's designs. Accidental beauty. I also like the idea of a quiet ritual; taking time at the end of the day to create something a little different - not without direction exactly, but with certain choices already made for you. And of course, at the core is an ethos of economy - making use of the scraps that your day's work has produced. Economical and practical as well as artistic. Upcycling has been around for longer than we imagine! 

Since starting to make my own handwoven beads, the idea of end-of-day beads has been on my mind. It's safe to say that I am NOT a tidy worker. Or a tidy anything for that matter! I often always end up with a colourful pile of mixed seed beads  - different colours, finishes and even sizes - when I've been stitching with beads. Not only messy, but also not the most economical way to work. I have little piles on pretty much every surface that I ever work on. 

So the other day, I decided to put the end-of-day idea into practice. I have a regular bead soup going on my current most-used bead tray, and the idea of sorting and separating all the different colours and finishes really didn't appeal...so, taking a little time to create for its own sake, I made a pair of beads with my end-of-day soup. 

I am really quite pleased with how these turned out. Of course, whilst it would be a lovely idea that whatever was created in this manner would turn out to be full of beauty, the truth is that they very easily could turn out to be very ugly and unusable! But these handwoven beads, created from days' worth of left-overs, are like tiny, handmade carnivals. Maybe it's because the beads are so small and the stitches so regular, but the colours work together, creating the right atmosphere, somehow. 

These stunning handmade beads from Donna Millard are examples of how a contemporary lampwork artist has interpreted this old glass--working tradition

...and some more traditional end-of-day beads, from Big Bead Little Bead:

What do you think of this glass-working tradition? Does it appeal to you? 

Songbead Studs - now available, and with a special offer for blog readers too.

This is something I've been working on for a while now.....my Songbead Studs! I can't tell you how pleased I am with how these have turned out. Take a peek - These fourteen designs are just the beginning. I think I've covered most bases - but what colours would you like to see?  I'm particularly pleased with this little design of mine. I've only stitched it up in these colours - turquoise and antique bronze - but I can see it in other colours too. What do you think?  These studs are mounted on sterling silver stud settings, and I also have plans to roll out some with 14k gold-filled settings too. Gold-filled is a really cost-effective way of wearing gold in your ears - it is a solid layer of gold, bonded to a base metal - a much thicker layer than a plating, so findings in this finish have the appearance and feel of real 14k gold.  ***This offer has now closed*** These stud earrings will be available in my etsy shop for £15 a pair. But for the month of November, I have a special offer available via my blog - £12.50 a pair, or - even better! - two pairs for £22, plus P+P (£2 uk, £3.50 Europe, £4 RoW). There are PayPal buttons below for you to purchase these studs - I had to make two as each button only allows up to 10 colour options, so if you don't see the colour you're after under the first button, it's sure to be there under the second. The studs will be made to order, and will be posted out in 5 working days from the point of payment.  Postage is included in the price below, and if you buy more than one pair at once, I will refund the different via paypal. It would have been too complicated creating buttons to cater for all of the possible colour/metal combinations! But don't worry, refunds will be issued within 24 hours of purchase. I'm so excited to be sharing these little pieces of me with the world. They feel like a real reflection of where I am creatively at the moment.They are ideal little gifts - perfect stocking fillers, and a sweet treat for yourself too.  I hope lots of you will be unwrapping these under the tree this year!